The Dinosaurs

Our land is 4.54 billion years old and over the years numerous life forms have passed over it, species that have long ago become extinct and others that have evolved and are still part of our ecosystem.

The powerful and admired dinosaurs are part of a large group of extinct beings. Dinosaurs were enormous reptiles that inhabited our planet Earth for approximately 160 million years in the Mesozoic era and are located in the superorder of sauropid vertebrates. The word dinosaur comes from the Greek word and means “terrible lizard”, the scientist Richard Owen was the one who used the term in 1841, because for him they were enormous lizards that instilled respect and admiration in him.

The knowledge we have of dinosaurs is thanks to the fossil remains that have been found on all continents. Over the years and with the help of technology, very real simulations of these animals have been made, and thanks to this, we can have an idea of what these wonderful creatures were like, how they lived and what their habits were.

There were several types of dinosaurs, from the largest ones such as the Ultrasaurus (or Ultrasaurus), which reached 15 meters when it stretched its head upwards, just like the giraffes do, even the smallest ones like the Saltopus, which measured approximately 50 to 90 centimeters or the Micropachycephalosaurus (or Micropachycephalosaurus), were the smallest dinosaur and were almost the size of a rabbit.

Fossils again played an important role in helping scientists discover how dinosaurs fed themselves. The most important information is given by the animal’s teeth and shape, along with the layout of the jaws. The herbivores had flat teeth, while the teeth in the carnivores were curved and closed, thus penetrating more into the flesh of the prey. With the fossils found, it was also discovered that carnivores had a large head with a muscular neck so they were supposed to have a strong bite that allowed them to tear out good portions of meat. The herbivores, on the other hand, had very long necks and thus were able to get food from the high canopies of the trees.

These are some of the differences that the dinosaurs presented, but the characteristic that brings the greatest distinction between these reptiles was the shape of their hips, according to this, the dinosaurs are divided into two groups: the Saurischians and the Ornithrischians.

The Saurischians

The word saurischio is of Greek origin and means “lizard’s hip”, they were dinosaurs with long necks and enormous claws. The Saurischians were divided into two suborders: the theropods that were carnivorous and the sauropods, the large herbivores.

The Theropods were huge carnivores. The Tyrannosaurus (or Tyrannosaurus) had a strong muscular head and powerful claws, his front legs were small, but his hind legs and hips were huge, so he fixed his immense body to hunt and with his jaws he tore the prey’s flesh. There were very small theropods, they hunted in packs chasing their prey and attacked with teeth and claws.

The Sauropods were huge quadrupeds with long necks and tails, the smallest being the size of an elephant. The vast majority had a basic body structure, consisting of a huge body, short, heavy legs and long tails, and a small head. So far it is believed that the largest sauropod was the Argentinosaurus (or Argentinosaurus).

The Ornithrisky

they had a hips like birds, but in a much larger size, the pubis pointing backwards, they had teeth with a crown shaped like a leaf and the mouth was covered by a corneal beak.

All of them were herbivores and when they lived in herds they were much more numerous than the Saurischians. Ornitischia are divided into four suborders: Ornithopods (bipeds), stegosaurs, ankylosaurs and ceratosaurs (the latter three were quadrupeds).

Ornithopods had flexible jaws and molar teeth that surpassed those of cows to chew on fibrous plants. Although they were bipeds they could also be in a quadruped position.